Just a week after drug charges against Diamondo Butler were dropped, police say he sold a fatal dose of fentanyl to a Gahanna, Ohio man. A federal grand jury indicted the Columbus, Ohio man on Tuesday. That overdose happened less than a week after a Franklin County judge dismissed another drug-dealing charge against Butler. The DEA and Gahanna police arrested him on Wednesday night. Here’s what Ohio said led to the fatal overdose charge.
Police said the drug deal went down back on April 1st. Butler, who used the street name ‘Yellow’ sold $70 worth of fentanyl to a friend of the deceased. Police said the deal happened at a gas station on Cleveland Avenue in Columbus. The deceased put in $35 toward the purchase of the fentanyl. The two friends split the drugs. The deceased used his share at his home in Gahanna. He was discovered unresponsive the next morning.
An autopsy showed fentanyl intoxication as the cause of death
A Long Record
Officials said Butler sold fentanyl multiple times in April and in August. A check of Franklin County, Ohio court records showed that Butler has been charged 24 times on various offenses. Police charged him with drug trafficking back in March, but those charges were dismissed back on March 23. That happened just a week before he allegedly sold the fatal dose of fentanyl.
Butler has faced a judge many other times on drug charges. He’s also a terrible driver piling up cases for speeding and driving without a license time after time after time.
Fentanyl Is Like Russian Roulette
Why did Ohio authorities bring the fatal overdose charge?
“Fentanyl trafficking is like playing Russian Roulette,” said U.S. Attorney David M. DeVillers. Any given dose can kill someone, and if it does, that trafficker will face a minimum of 20 years in prison.”
Supplying drugs that seriously injure or kill someone is a federal crime. The sentence is 20 years to life in prison.
“These charges are a reminder of the lethality of fentanyl,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Keith Martin. “The DEA continues to prioritize investigating drug dealing that results in death.”
Fentanyl is a synthetic cousin of heroin. The drug is 100 times more potent than morphine. The drug is the number one cause of overdose deaths in the United States.
